High Aspect Ratio Reflective Metallic Barriers for High‐Efficiency Quantum‐Dot Color Conversion in Micro‐LED Displays

ABSTRACT Quantum dot color conversion (QDCC) is a promising route for next‐generation micro displays, offering exceptional emission tunability, high color purity, and seamless integration with blue micro‐LEDs. However, current QDCC technologies suffer from limited luminance and power efficiency due to severe optical losses from highly absorptive pixel‐defining barriers. Here, we report a QDCC architecture featuring high‐aspect‐ratio metallic barriers that can simultaneously suppress optical crosstalk and recycle otherwise wasted photons emitted from a blue micro‐LED. The metallic barriers were in the form of metal‐mesh which were made by scalable and cost‐effective imprinting, copper electroplating, and silver coating processes. The metal‐mesh barriers enabled a record resolution of 2540 pixels per inch (PPI), an aperture ratio >60%, a barrier height of ∼10 µm. The smooth and high‐aspect‐ratio sidewalls significantly enhanced optical confinement and achieved reflectance approaching 80%, which is the highest resolution of reflective barrier reported to date. The optical measurements revealed a greater than fourfold increase in QD emission because of the enhanced color conversion, confirming substantially improved photon confinement and energy‐conversion efficiency. This approach establishes a scalable route toward high‐efficiency full color Micro‐LED displays, paving the way for next‐generation augmented and virtual reality systems.

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Publication Details

Journal
Advanced Functional Materials
Published
2026-05-22
DOI
https://doi.org/10.1002/adfm.76024
Primary Topic
Quantum Dots Synthesis And Properties
Type
article
Field-Weighted Citation Impact
0.00

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article

High Aspect Ratio Reflective Metallic Barriers for High‐Efficiency Quantum‐Dot Color Conversion in Micro‐LED Displays

Chenchao Huang, Fangfang Pei, Wenya Xu, Xiaolian Chen et al.
Advanced Functional Materials
Quantum Dots Synthesis And Properties
article

High Aspect Ratio Reflective Metallic Barriers for High‐Efficiency Quantum‐Dot Color Conversion in Micro‐LED Displays

Chenchao Huang, Fangfang Pei, Wenya Xu, Xiaolian Chen, Zishou Hu, Chaowei Fu, Yuxing Wang, Shuhong Nie, Zheng Cui, Chunrui Da, Yunfei Sun, Wei He, Mingmin Zhong, Qian Sun, Wenming Su
article en

Abstract

ABSTRACT Quantum dot color conversion (QDCC) is a promising route for next‐generation micro displays, offering exceptional emission tunability, high color purity, and seamless integration with blue micro‐LEDs. However, current QDCC technologies suffer from limited luminance and power efficiency due to severe optical losses from highly absorptive pixel‐defining barriers. Here, we report a QDCC architecture featuring high‐aspect‐ratio metallic barriers that can simultaneously suppress optical crosstalk and recycle otherwise wasted photons emitted from a blue micro‐LED. The metallic barriers were in the form of metal‐mesh which were made by scalable and cost‐effective imprinting, copper electroplating, and silver coating processes. The metal‐mesh barriers enabled a record resolution of 2540 pixels per inch (PPI), an aperture ratio >60%, a barrier height of ∼10 µm. The smooth and high‐aspect‐ratio sidewalls significantly enhanced optical confinement and achieved reflectance approaching 80%, which is the highest resolution of reflective barrier reported to date. The optical measurements revealed a greater than fourfold increase in QD emission because of the enhanced color conversion, confirming substantially improved photon confinement and energy‐conversion efficiency. This approach establishes a scalable route toward high‐efficiency full color Micro‐LED displays, paving the way for next‐generation augmented and virtual reality systems.

Advanced Functional Materials
Suzhou University of Science and Technology (CN), Soochow University (CN), Suzhou Institute of Nano-tech and Nano-bionics (CN), Tsinghua–Berkeley Shenzhen Institute (CN)
National Natural Science Foundation of China, Natural Science Foundation of Jiangsu Province, Higher Education Discipline Innovation Project, National Key Research and Development Program of China
Affordable and clean energy
Openalex Percentile: Top 11%
Quantum Dots Synthesis And Properties
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